Single

According to a poll from the People Media Network of dating sites, they found on average 52 percent of singles find no advantage to being single and rather have a partner. This leaves 48 percent of singles finding some advantage to having a "still looking" relationship status. In comparison, 33 percent of people polled said that being able to do what you want to do is the main advantage of being single, while 7 percent said living alone. 4 percent of singles said they like being single because they can date, and the same percentage said they like it because they can choose how to spend their money.

This poll ran on 13 of People Media's dating sites in the month of August and the first part of September. 27,000 members took part in the poll.

To find out more about People Media's most popular dating sites, read our review of BlackPeopleMeet.com and our review of SeniorPeopleMett.com.

With the popularity of weight shows like "The Biggest Loser" and the dating show "More to Love", Date.com during the months of July and August asked thousands of men if they preferred to date women who are thin or women who have a few extra pounds. In a surprising result, 85 percent of men preferred to date a heavier women. 80 percent of the men who liked heavier women said the reason for this was heavier women appreciate the attention a man would give them more and that heavier women are also less bitchy than thin women (their words not mine). The funny thing is, in a similar survey for women, Date.com found that 90% of women thought heavier women would have a harder time dating because men can't see beyond a few extra pounds.

View the press release for more results from the survey by men and women and to find out more about the dating site, read our review of Date.com.

Looks like this post is a week late. From September 20 until the 26 in 2009 it was National Singles Week. In the 1980s, the Buckeye Singles Council of Ohio started this observance which falls on the third full week of September. It was started to

... acknowledge that many unmarried Americans do not identify with the word “single” because they are parents, have partners or are widowed.

Here are some recent interesting facts and statistics on singles in America:

• There are now 95.9 million unmarried people in the U.S. who are 18 years or older. This makes up 43 percent of all adults. (from 2008)
• 53 percent of these singles are women
• 61 percent of these singles never have been married before. 24 percent have been divorced and a further 15 percent were widowed.
• Seniors (65+) account for 15.8 million of adult singles which 16 percent having never been married.
• 11.6 million of adult singles are parents living with their children, 9.8 million are women.

For the full fact sheet on the Unmarried and Single Americans Week, visit the U.S. Census Bureau.

Forbes has ranked their top cities for singles a litter earlier this year. We usually expect the results sometime in September. In 2007 San Francisco held the honour of the best city for singles, in 2008 it was Atlanta, and this year the honour goes to New York City. Looking at this list when compared to other years it seems that the recession has juggled the cities rankings quite a bit. For example, in last year's best city for singles list, New York City was in 8th place.

Here is the top 5 cities for Singles in 2009:

1. New York City
2. Boston
3. Chicago
4. Seattle
5. Washington D.C.

Last year it was San Francisco, this year it is Atlanta which gained the number 1 spot in Forbes annual top 40 cities in America for Singles to live. The 40 largest cities in the United States are ranked in 7 different categories. This includes, nightlife, online dating activity, job growth, number of singles, culture, cost of living alone and coolness. All cities where ranked in the 7 categories. Then all categories, which were given equal weight, where totalled for the cities final ranking. The top 5 cities for singles are (according to Forbes):

1. Atlanta
2. San Francisco
3. Dallas
4. Minneapolis
5. Washington D.C.

As a city, Atlanta offers an above average ranking in almost all 7 categories with Job Growth as a stand out in which they were ranked number 4 out of 40. Online Dating activity was their worse category with a ranking of 24. Out of a population of over 4 million, 26.8 percent of adults are single which gave them a rank of 14. San Francisco earned the top spot for the number of singles category with 30 percent of their adult population being single.

According to Forbes methodology on how each of the 7 categories are used to rank a city, Match.com was used to determine the online dating activity. This was based on the number of active profiles in each city. To figure out the coolest city, Harris Interactive conducted a poll that asked U.S. adults to name the city from among the 40 selected.

Check out Forbes Special Report for singles.

Related Story: Forbes Magazine Best Cities for Singles

An independent film called Single: a documentary film was released recently which looks at the lives at some of the 100 million Americans who are single. While I haven't seen the movie, there is a trailer available. The trailer runs over 4 minutes and it does give a good impression of what the film is about.

The website Tin Ape, did a review of this film in which they summarized:

Single delves into a plethora of issues about being single in America, from the role of the burgeoning independence of women to the social stigma of men, all backed up by the candid testimonies of single 30 somethings and knowledgeable sociologists.

Tin Ape also mentions:

The film also does not attempt to solve the “problem” of being single.

This is a different spin from most of the other media available on singles found on the internet. Most similar type of videos or articles tend to try and help the "single" become a "couple" which inadvertently casts a negative light on being single. The movie is available for purchase on their website for $14.95 US.

See the full film review at Tin Ape and the website for the actual movie can be found here.